Should we go to Baifulai now?
Upon hearing Gan Li's words, everyone present was greatly shocked. Especially Zhao Shi, who exclaimed in surprise:
"Go to Baifulai now? Are you afraid that the owner of Baifulai will forget about us, and want him to collect the debt early so you can sell us all?!"
She said, "This sister-in-law has always been selfish and self-serving. How come she's being so kind today and actually taking the initiative to meddle in her own family's affairs?"
So, she was planning to scheme against them, to sell them off early so that no one would bother her!
The more Zhao thought about it, the more she realized it made sense. Looking at Gan Li with wariness and disgust, she couldn't help but curse, "You're really vicious!"
Gan Mingli frowned when he saw her scolding his sister: "What nonsense are you talking about? Is my sister that kind of person?"
Zhao sneered: "How could it not be? Have you forgotten that when you went to the Chen family covered in injuries, your own sister wouldn't even let you in the door!"
Gan Mingli: "..."
"Alright!" Old Man Gan stepped in to mediate when he saw them arguing incessantly.
He looked at Gan Li and asked, "A Li, do you have any ideas?"
Although he knew that his daughter had never done anything reliable since she was a child, for some reason, perhaps it was what Gan Li said at the door just now, and her calm appearance now, that made him somewhat hopeful that his daughter had really come up with a solution.
Gan Li didn't want to engage in a pointless argument with Zhao Shi, which was why she hadn't spoken earlier. Now, seeing Old Man Gan asking her, she finally said:
"It's only natural that the owner of Baifulai was furious when his signature recipe was leaked. He asked our father to compensate him instead of sending the person to the authorities. This magnanimity is truly rare."
Upon hearing this, Old Man Gan nodded in agreement, his face showing even more shame: "The master is indeed kind, otherwise our family wouldn't have been able to work for him for generations. I'm sorry for what I did to him."
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao glared at Ganli a few more times.
Gan Li felt helpless, but she knew that in her eyes she was the culprit. Although she was wronged, there was nothing she could do. Pretending not to see it, she continued her analysis:
"The owner's demand for compensation may not be solely about the few hundred taels of silver; he may be more interested in venting his anger. In that case, if we take the initiative to apologize and offer remedial measures, the owner of Baifulai might calm down and give us more time to raise the money."
"Easy for you to say!" Zhao muttered. "Five hundred taels of silver, where are we going to get that from?"
Old Man Gan, however, felt that his daughter's words made sense and urged her to ask, "Then, according to you, what should we do now?"
“We don’t have five hundred taels right now, we can only take what we have. Father, how much silver do we have left?” Gan Li asked.
However, as soon as she finished speaking, tense expressions appeared on the faces of everyone in the Gan family.
Gan Li saw this and thought of how the original owner's family would scrimp and save even if there was only half a coin in their rat hole... It was perfectly normal for the Gan family to react this way.
She thought for a moment, then took out a purse from her bosom, carefully opened it, took out two items, placed them on the table, and said, "This is a 150 tael silver note."
Amidst the shocked gazes of everyone, she got up and went to the inner room. After much effort, she finally pulled a broken jar from under the kang (a heated brick bed), took out a small bundle from it, and returned to place it on the table.
When the bundle was opened, three silver ingots and some loose silver were revealed inside.
Putting aside the loose silver, those three silver ingots, judging by their size, should be ten taels each. Three ingots, that's thirty taels! Add the one hundred and fifty taels of silver notes, and that's one hundred and eighty taels!
Where did Ganli get so much money?
Even Old Man Gan and Old Woman Gan were somewhat bewildered—didn't their daughter say that she only had 145 taels of silver that day? These days, they had seen her constantly going to town to buy things, and they thought she didn't have much silver left.
How come there are more and more of them these days!
Gan Li noticed their expressions and said embarrassedly, "When I went home, I was worried that my parents would kick me out... so I kept the fifty taels a secret."
Old Man Gan and Old Woman Gan exchanged a glance, their complex expressions tinged with a hint of relief.
Although I feel a little sad knowing that my daughter is being wary of me, doesn't this also mean that my daughter has finally grown up and become more shrewd?
Gan Li pointed to the silver notes and turned to the Gan family, saying, "I caught Chen Danian red-handed, so I took most of the money when we divorced. It's all here now, a total of 189 taels."
Because I recently wanted to start a small business, I needed to keep nine taels of silver for working capital, and use the remaining one hundred and eighty taels to compensate Baifulai's employer.
"That won't do."
"We can't use my little sister's money!"
Before she could finish speaking, two voices of protest rang out in the room. Gan Li didn't even need to look to know that they must be her two doting brothers.
Sure enough, Gan Mingli said anxiously, "This is the money you received in your divorce settlement. You're taking care of Pan'er, and this money is your life-saving fund! How can you take it out and use it?"
"That's right!" Gan Mingyi chimed in, "We can't use this silver!"
"Well, let me say something." Gan Li raised her hand to signal, and after everyone looked at her, she solemnly announced, "I have changed Pan'er's name. From now on, she will not be called Pan'er, but Gan Tian."
Sweet?
Everyone knew the meaning behind Chen Pan'er's name, and upon hearing this, they all turned to look at Gan Tian.
The little girl, who had been standing properly, suddenly felt a little shy under so many gazes. But seeing her mother's encouraging look, she tried to straighten her back.
Seeing this, Old Man Gan laughed and said, "Sweet is good, that's a good name!"
Ganli smiled, but quickly straightened her face and looked at her two older brothers:
"And what time is it? You're still thinking about yours and mine? Do you expect me to just stand by and watch my family get sold? You care about your sister, but don't you care about your wives and children?"
She pointed to the side, and the Gan brothers followed her gaze to their wife and children standing there. They felt extremely guilty and couldn't say anything for a moment.
However, the Zhao family, Sun family, and their three children, who were pointed out by Gan Li, had very complicated feelings.
They never expected that such words would come from the mouth of their aunt, who always took pleasure in exploiting them!
Gan Mingli's two children, Gan Quan and Gan Qiao, remained silent, but Gan Mingyi's son, Gan Lin, rolled his eyes and said with a grin:
“Auntie is right. We’re all family. There’s no need to talk about what’s yours and what’s mine. When Auntie used to come home to get money, she never said such things.”
"What are you doing, kid? What are you interrupting for?" Old Man Gan frowned and scolded.
Gan Li couldn't help but glance at her nephew. Although she was a little uncomfortable with his tone, she still nodded in agreement.
"That's right. Now that we're in such dire straits, let's not talk about these things. Let's pool our resources and get through this first."
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